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Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko has asked Sergio Perez to let Max Verstappen out of his head and focus on his own performance ahead of the 2024 season.
The title fight might again be between the two Red Bull drivers as the Austrian team had an impressive pre-season testing. Many teams and drivers believe that the reigning world champions would remain the team to beat in the 2024 season as well.
Speaking with AMUS, Marko stressed that Sergio Perez should not focus too much on his three-time world champion teammate Max Verstappen and get on with his program after a slightly underwhelming pre-season test for the Mexican compared to Verstappen.
He said:
"Perez needs to get Max out of his head and drive his own program.”
Sergio Perez, meanwhile, said that it was a 'positive' pre-season test for him and that he is looking forward to racing next weekend (via Red Bull.com):
"It has been a good start to the year for the Team, we have got plenty of mileage over the last few days. The run program that we put together was very good and meant we really made the most out of the days.
"Now it is time to look forward to the race next weekend, I have a good feeling in the car, so let’s see once we get to race it, but the feeling is very positive."
Max Verstappen analyzes the pre-season test ahead of the first race of the season
Max Verstappen stated that the team focused on the long runs on the final day as they were happy with their running on the three days of the pre-season testing.
Speaking with F1.com, the Red Bull driver said:
“Today we made the plan to not focus on pure lap time. I think it was more important just to get the long-running done and then get a bit more of an understanding of the car, so we focused on that program and to be honest, I think it all looked quite positive."
Adding that it's all about fine-tuning the balance at the Bahrain Grand Prix next weekend, Max Verstappen further said:
“[I’m] quite happy with the car, how it was behaving, and then when we head into the race weekend it’s about fine-tuning the balance around the circumstances that you face throughout that weekend.”
